Sunday trading laws are to be relaxed across the Olympics and Paralympics Games for a total of 8 weeks from July 22 Chancellor George Osborne announced, saying that millions of visitors will be in Britain during the main events, many of which fall on a Sunday.

Osborne commented: “We will introduce legislation limited to relaxing the Sunday trading laws for eight Sundays only, starting on July 22nd.” He also said that VAT “anomalies” will be reviewed including the potential removal of the zero-rating for hot food and sports drinks.

Howver, the controversial 5.6% business rate increase, due to come into effect in April, was not mentioned in the Budget. In his autumn 2011 report Osbourne revealed a scheme which would allow retailers to defer 60% of the increase equally across the years 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. The increase will add £350 million to retailers’ costs.

The National Loan Guarantee Scheme, offering £20bn to small businesses over two years - also announced in the Autumn Statement - has just begun operating. Osborne also increased the size of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee by 20%, offering mid-size companies £1.2bn as an alternative source of funding to the banks.

The British Retail Consortium has proposed that the 1.8 per cent increase in the adult National Minimum Wage rate is a wise move that strikes the right balance between helping retailers to maintain and create jobs and supporting low income households. But freezing the youth rate will make only a marginal difference to the retail sector.

Reacting to today’s announcement British Retail Consortium (BRC) Director General Stephen Robertson said: “The Government’s made a thoroughly wise decision.  As the largest private sector employer, retail recognises its vital role in providing much needed employment. Over 98 per cent of people working for our members are paid more than the minimum wage but this is the right move in the current economic conditions.

“This sensible increase shows appropriate restraint at a time of falling inflation and rising unemployment. 1.8 per cent is within the limits the BRC’s evidence showed would allow retailers to create and maintain jobs. Any larger increase would have piled extra pressure on retailers at a time of weak customer demand.

“Freezing the youth rate may make a marginal difference to work opportunities for young people but retailers pay the rate for the job and the vast majority of under 20s working in retail are paid the adult rate.”

French Connection is to launch a premium homewares range in April 2012, with a view to tapping this lucrative market segment that is thought to be worth almost £11 bn according to Verdict Research.

It is hoped the move into new markets will reverse French Connection’s dwindling fortunes that saw like-for-like sales fall 9.5% and pre-tax profits plummet by £1.8 million in Q3 2011. At the start of 2012 expectations for the group have again been lowered, with the UK retail division forecast to post a £9m loss for the year, against a £1.6m loss the previous year, according to house broker Numis Securities.

The homewares collection, which is being billed as stylish and contemporary with a comfortable feel, will be available online and in 10 of French Connection’s biggest stores. It will bear the strapline ‘I am Home’ and be based on a nautically-inspired colour palette with white, greys, navy blue and rusty brown tones. Items are to included blue stripey crockery, driftwood tables, bedding, vases, candles, glassware, soft furnishings and hand-woven wool and leather rugs. Prices will range from £4 to £275 for a ’safari’ chair’. If successful, the range will be rolled out further and an  autumn/winter range is already in development.

New data released today by money-saving site ILoveCashback.com indicates Brits will spend more on Valentine’s gifts than they did a year ago.

ILoveCashback.com surveyed 500 members during January to reveal loved-up Brits plan to spoil themselves rotten this year to ease the economic blues!

ILoveCasback is the UK’s only site to combine price comparison, voucher codes and cashback and has been shortlisted in the Consumer MoneyFacts Awards 2012, best cashback site category.

“It was an overwhelming ‘yes!’ when we asked our members if they would spend more this year than last,’ said ILoveCashback Managing Director, Brad Blake. “It’s often the case that people pamper themselves during hard times and it seems Brits are planning to do just that!

“Proving popular as always are chocolates, flowers, and perfumes, but Red Letter Days are increasingly popular with things like pamper spa days, luxury weekend breaks and even hot air ballooning being booked in the run up to Feb 14.

“Cupid is our motif so its a pleasure to help people save cash this Valentine’s Day. Love does, after all, make the world go round!”

ILoveCashback.com offers price comparison for over 9 million products with more than 1,200 voucher codes for over 1,800 UK stores.

Britons now use the web to shop more avidly than any other major country. A recent Ofcom report compared the UK with 17 other countries and found that 79 per cent of British web users have bought something online, compared to just 27 per cent of Italians.

Nearly nine out of ten from the UK have looked at shopping websites, spending an average of 84 minutes on them per month, compared with around 20 minutes for consumers in Poland and Italy.

The BRC Online Retail Monitor for Q4 2011 showed that 1 in 5 Christmas retail searches were done via mobile phones, while total retail search volumes grew 24% in the fourth quarter compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

The increase was driven by a rise in mobile/tablet search volumes, which grew by 169% year-on-year. Pre-Christmas searches peaked on 4 December for mobile/tablet devices, and a week earlier, on Monday November 30th, for all online retail searches.On Christmas Day itself mobile/tablet searches accounted for 26% of overall retail searches.

In the fourth quarter, total searches for food and drink related items had the fastest rate of growth, up 29% year-on-year, while on mobile devices searches grew fastest for homeware products, up by 189% year-on-year.

Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: “For a fourth successive quarter, the number of retail searches from smartphones and tablets has nearly trebled compared with the previous year. During December, one in five retail searches came from a mobile device and on Christmas Day this increased to more than one in four. Hard-pressed consumers are searching more for bargains and using technology to seek out the best offers.  The significant growth in searches from countries such as Brazil and Russia shows the opportunities presented by emerging economies.  For many retailers, tapping into these booming consumer markets is an increasingly important strategy for growth.”

Peter Fitzgerald, Retail Director, Google, said: “Mobile was the standout winner this Christmas with search volumes reaching unprecedented levels, growing from 7 per cent of searches in Q4 2010, to account for over 20 per cent of all retail searches a year later. Even in categories like Consumer Electronics, where growth slowed to just 3 per cent in Q4, mobile/tablet searches were still up an incredible 95 per cent year-on-year. The usage patterns on the different devices are especially interesting. Over Christmas desktop search volumes peaked on Monday December 5th and saw a marked drop thereafter. Mobile/tablet volumes remained consistent later into the month, peaking at the weekends, with many consumers likely to have been searching on their devices while out and about.”

London continues to drive the highest proportion of retail searches in the UK accounting for 36% of overall searches. The proportion of retail searches fell marginally in Wales from 3% in the third quarter to 2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Ireland’s proportion of retail searches remained at 1% of the UK total despite accounting for 2.8% of the UK population.

The numbers of UK consumers searching for overseas retailers rose by 37% compared with the same quarter last year, while the number of overseas consumers visiting UK based retailers rose 45% in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the same time last year, up from 34% in the previous period.

The map demonstrates the growth in the number of retail related searches generated from emerging markets (Brazil, Russia, India and China.)  Russia showed the highest rate of growth from emerging markets growing by 73%, followed by India (+69%), Brazil (63%) and China (26%).

Developing economies which also demonstrated considerable rates of growth in UK retail searches included Mexico (+304%) and Pakistan (+1245%), while developed markets such as Portugal (+101%), Australia (+66%) and the US (29%) also showed strong signs of growth. Electrical items featured frequently in top searched for products while clothing and games were also popular. Cash-strapped consumers were looking for bargains on luxury items and branded goods.

The leaderboard produced by Skillsmart Retail, the Sector Skills Council for retail, identifies the top ten towns and cities for independent retailers based on the results of its Location Model research. As part of this research, independent retailers are mystery shopped and scored on a range of areas including product knowledge, customer service and store interior.

Wales emerges as the undisputed UK hotspot for independents. Llanelli tops the list with an average score of 94.8%, followed by Carmarthen (94.7%), Swansea (92.5%) and Ammanford (91.5%). In fifth place is Newport (90.8%) which holds the position jointly with Cambridge and Rugeley in Staffordshire.

For each location the scores are collated and an average percentage is compared against the 90 towns and cities across the UK which have been assessed through the Location Model since 2005.

Individual scores from the participating businesses, show two Welsh retailers gaining 100% in their mystery shops, joining only five other businesses (out of 5,000 nationally) to ever achieve full marks. Health & Herbs in Swansea and Martin Rees Jeweller in Wrexham both proved they gave an outstanding shopping experience.

Mrs Ruth Rees from Martin Rees Jeweller said: “We are really proud of our results and to get confirmation that how we run the business is right. We love jewellery and gemstones and get a lot of pleasure out of running the business. It is nice to know that this passion comes across to our customers.”

The Welsh Location Models were funded by the Welsh Assembly Government’s Sector Priorities Fund Pilot (SPFP) programme, which also receives additional support from the European Social Fund (ESF).

Anne Seaman, the Chief Executive for Skillsmart Retail, said: “Wales’ leaders and independent retailers should be hugely proud of themselves for these amazing results. Wales clearly has some very talented local retailers who are focused on providing excellent customer experiences and help create some vibrant shopping destinations.

“Our Location Model research is a great way to find out how a town or city compares to others across the UK. The research outlines recommendations to improve a town or city centre and help it become more successful and sustainable. The mystery shopping exercise allows independent retailers a chance to see what they are doing right and what extra skills they need to improve their businesses.”

The all-Welsh top five was established this month when the results for Swansea’s Location Model were released. Swansea took third place after 37 independent shops in the city were mystery shopped and excelled in customer service.

Russell Greenslade, Chief Executive from Swansea BID said: “These are great results for Swansea and for Wales. Swansea has shown it is not only one of the country’s largest shopping destination, but one with many great independent retailers.

“I would particularly like to congratulate and thank our local retailers, who produced outstanding mystery shopping results. Local businesses are vital to maintaining the city’s identity, and as the only BID in Wales, we want to support these retailers and help them flourish, especially in these difficult times.”

If the onset of 2012 brings about a search for inspiring resolutions, head over to the London Design Museum and soak in the brilliance of The Way We Live Now, a retrospective on the life and work of Sir Terence Conran. One of England’s most influential aesthetes, Conran opened his first design studio back in 1956 - after withdrawing from the textile design program at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts. Now, more than 50 years after that rogue move and having just celebrated his 80th birthday, Conran’s empire is stronger than ever and his impact on British life is celebrated in this expansive exhibition.

The show, which runs through March 4th, abounds with examples of Conran’s innovative eye. The early years are captured in the form of steel furniture he welded himself in the 1940’s and 50’s to a reconstruction of a room featured in one of Habitat’s iconic catalogues. Conran, of course, founded Habitat in 1964 and in doing so revolutionized the way the younger generation decorated their homes, bidding adieu to chintz and lace and capturing the spirit of swinging London. Beyond his talent as a tastemaker however, Conran is also a great translator. Dig in to any of his how-to books – Essential Bathrooms, Bathrooms: Supply and Water, The Essential House Book or the forerunner Do-It-Yourself with Style: Original Designs for Bathrooms and Bedrooms – and it’s apparent that he not only speaks the language of design but he is brilliant at decoding it, making even the complicated task of renovating a bathroom totally accessible.

Luckily for us, retirement is not a word in Terence Conran’s vocabulary. He’s just launched a range of bath and body products and this spring will see an expanded range of home wares for Marks & Spencer (call it his next generation Habitat project). In 2014 the Design Museum, which he founded, will relocate from Butler’s Wharf to a heavily trafficked Kensington High Street. And what is any great innovator without an iPhone/iPad app these days? Conran’s Magpie “acts just like any good magpie should; it collects the things that inspire you, storing them as future reference for your design decisions.” Genius.

Logan Tod & Co.’s 6th Annual Online Future Shopping Index predicts growth of between 18% and 22% during Christmas 2012 exceeding the rate of growth in 2011.

According to the December 2011 online shopping survey of future retail trends, 26% of online shoppers are indicating that they plan to spend even more online in December 2012. This represents the highest measurement of intent to shop online since the survey was launched in December 2006.

Matthew Tod, Chief Executive at Logan Tod & Co explains: “Whilst we weren’t expecting a decline in intent to shop over the internet during Christmas 2012, we didn’t expect such a strong indication of growth either. With mobile shopping finally ‘coming of age’, the sudden emergence of tablets which almost came out of nowhere, plus many companies finally getting to grips with multichannel retail, we are forecasting eCommerce going from strength to strength.”

Tablet computing is perhaps the most significant contributor to forecasts gathered in the survey this year; 14% of total respondents indicated they used an iPad or other tablet device to make purchases over the same period, demonstrating that just 18 months from launch, use of tablets for shopping has almost equalled that of mobile phones. 7% of total respondents used a mobile to purchase an item in the run up to Christmas 2010, this figure having more than doubled to 15% in 2011.

Matthew Tod: “Our research demonstrates that tablets are now growing even faster than the mobile commerce market and it is becoming increasingly evident that one of their primary functions is as online shopping tools, meaning retailers must include them in their multichannel plans for 2012 and beyond. They should now be creating separate PC, mobile and tablet strategies to reflect the migration of the most prolific online shoppers towards tablets.”

Low-cost delivery options (taking longer to arrive but costing less) is once again the number one feature that would encourage shoppers to spend more online, with 57% selecting this option, compared to 56% last year. Over 45% of respondents highlighted improved stock availability as a key reason that would increase their likelihood to shop online, with other key drivers including improved payment options (46%) and not surprisingly, additional money-saving offers (48%).

When asked about multichannel options, some interesting results emerged compared to last Christmas. Over 45% of those surveyed said they had used click–and-collect this Christmas compared to just under 39% during Christmas 2010 (15% growth), whilst a huge 60% indicated they had browsed a catalogue and then gone on to purchase online, compared to just 39% in last year (54% growth). In addition 39% of respondents said they researched products online before purchasing in store, compared to 32% the previous year (an increase of 22%).

Matthew Tod concludes: “It is going to be another challenging year keeping up with the ever changing multi-channel consumer, but retailers should continue to invest in this area as consumers are still saying they intend to spend significantly more online in 2012.”

This week some of the biggest names on the high street are set to publish Christmas trading statements which will shed light on how they have fared over the critical Christmas trading season.

With online sales reaching a historic high, many commentators are beginning to question the future of the high-street.

The UK leads the way in online shopping, with 9% of all retail purchases made on the net – the highest in the world. What’s more, a further growth of 150% is expected in m-commerce as more people go shopping on their mobile phones. A greater amount of interactivity is expected to be added to the high street in a move that will see multichannel shopping moving into the 21^st century. There will be a greater reliance on using social networking, the internet and mobile phone technology in an attempt to bring shoppers to the high street, mirroring similar engagement practices seen online.

NetDespatch, whose web-based software helps retailers despatch parcels for orders placed on-line, is reporting a 50 per cent  increase in online traffic compared with the same pre-Christmas period last year. Providing evidence that people are spending less in the shops and  more online, the company’s Internet servers are being accessed up to twenty  million times an hour in the run up to Christmas.

NetDespatch estimates that around 50,000 retailers worldwide are now using its web technology for booking and tracking parcel deliveries through a wide  range of postal and parcel carriers. Working in  partnership with carriers such as Yodel, UK Mail, Royal Mail and DHL Sameday in  the UK, NetDespatch enables retailers and carriers to process much higher  volumes of parcels at peak times, without increased operational costs.

Evidence of the boom in online sales also comes from APC Overnight, where more than 100 depots rely on customers booking parcel collections and deliveries  online using NetDespatch. The next day delivery company recently reported that  volumes are up by 10,000 parcels a night compared with last year.

The Christmas  rush has seen over 100,000 parcels a night being sorted at the company’s West  Midlands hub.